This invention relates to electronic test instruments and, more particularly, to electronic instrumentation for signal measurement. Specifically, the invention is directed to aiding a user to set up electronic test instruments for performing various signal measurements.
An exemplary use of the invention is i the field of optical and electrical measurements in connection with fiber optic systems. With higher bit rates and wider-band modulations becoming prevalent in fiber optic systems, the designers and manufacturers of these systems and associated components need to be able to characterize performance more thoroughly and more precisely than ha been the case with lower transmission bandwidths. Many new fiber optic systems now operate at speeds of 500 MBPS and higher, which are equivalent to RF and low microwave frequencies. In addition, even though optical fiber cable is correctly classified as a low-loss medium, a fiber optic system can, in fact, have significant losses that must be identified if they are to be minimized. Accordingly, the measurements performed to characterize such a system have proliferated.
Various lightwave component test systems have been developed to meet these measurement needs. However, the complexities of configuring, calibrating, and operating these test systems for performing the desired test measurements have dramatically escalated. This has required periodic retraining of personnel, increased test setup time, and resulted in errors due to improper test setup, calibration, and/or operation by the user.